We have been planning to bring drumming to our Playhouse for some time but were not having any luck finding drums and a leader. One day we spotted a video on Facebook of Raymond, our Playhouse participant, drumming in a Washington, D.C. street concert and saw his amazing talent! Now we knew exactly who could…

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By: Karin Gipple Chemistry 101? Cooking with yeast? No!  It was an entertaining and educational afternoon learning the art of brewing beer which, contrary to popular belief, is a lot like chemistry and a lot like cooking.  A group of over-21, adventurous Fantastic Friends got together for an afternoon to brew a Czech Pilsner.  First,…

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By Lisa Custer To say that GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis has made a difference in my daughter’s life is the quintessential understatement.  I would call GiGi’s Playhouse a literal “Godsend.” In September of 2016, our family dynamic drastically changed.  Suddenly I was a single parent.  My daughter, Valerie was in her sixth season of living her…

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The Riva 5K Run & Walk is a fun community event in Riva, Maryland. This is the 5th annual event led by volunteers from: Berkshire, Annapolis Landing and Waterford to foster community bonds and to raise money for a local charity. Proceeds and all donations from the 2019 event will benefit GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis. (No…

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On February 2nd, the Playhouse was packed with the happy hearts in our brand new friends, returning participants, family members, volunteers and supporters; all celebrating the first anniversary of  GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis’ Grand Opening. We are thankful for the warm welcome from the greater-Annapolis community. In its first year, individuals with Down syndrome participated in…

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To celebrate the conclusion of our first Literacy Tutoring Session, we invited Caring Canine Pet Therapy Dogs to GiGi’s Playhouse. Caring Canines is a pet therapy program created by Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat to provide certified pet therapy teams who offer unconditional love and a peaceful presence to those in need in the community. Caring…

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By: Julia Persinger “Get creative and think of all of the ways that you too can help in a very small or very large way. It will come back to you a hundredfold.” After a considerable period of procrastination, I penned this on an eight-day silent Catholic Retreat at the Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth…

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We have a very special volunteer in Richard Reichert! He is a talented 86-year-young retired Industrial Arts teacher. Richard accepted the challenge after talking to Site Coordinator Judy Co about a Playhouse dream of having a “GiGi’s Playhouse Little Library.” Never mind that it was only Richard’s second time to the Playhouse, that he didn’t…

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Sharon is one of our amazing adult participants. She is 38 years old and regularly attends the Fantastic Friends program and was a volunteer for our LMNOP Tuesday morning group. Sharon also was a self-advocate speaker at our inaugural Brew HAHA event. We are so excited for her, after volunteering in the school system as…

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